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Hermès have a long history when it comes to horology. Their first flirtation with watches came in 1912, when a pigskin strap was developed for energetic nine-year-old Jacqueline Hermès to keep her pocket watch on her wrist, rather than falling out her pocket. Since then the French house has developed a raft of ingenious styles, including
Telegraph Fashion
's favourite model, Le Temps Suspendu.

L-R: Hermès Arceau Temps Suspendu in rose gold, set with diamonds on an alligator strap, £26,200, Hermès Arceau Lift in rose gold on alligator strap, £108,000, Medor in steel set with diamonds on an alligator strap, £32,650

The clue is in the name: the watch has a button on the side which makes the hands stop and snap to a narrow 'v', removing the time display from the watch face - or suspending time. Another push and the hands snap back to the correct time. The idea was developed by Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the sixth-generation artistic director of Hermès.

Last year he told the
Telegraph
: "The objects you use induce a specific relation to time. If I give you an iPhone, with all the capabilities of an iPhone, you will get a sense of an acceleration of time because you can do so many things at once. An Hermès object invites you to slow down, because it reminds you that you're human. This is really our dream - to suspend time.

"Someone said, 'Well, you can just take your watch away.' But no, [this watch] engages you to take the responsibility, to withdraw from conventional time. We want people to think about their relation to time, and to take responsibility for it. When you come to Hermès, if you're interested in craft, you're actually maybe also interested in reacquainting yourself with your own time, not always being a slave to other people's time. It's a shift from quantity of time to quality of time."

A philosophical justification for a wildly luxurious time-keeping accessory, as well as an excuse for running late? We'll take it.